ePortfolio Matters @KPU:  The Revival Continues

Having recently submitted our Summative Report for the 2022/23 AACU ePortfolio Institute, it is in keeping with folio thinking pedagogy to reflect upon the accomplishments and impacts of this year-long learning experience.

At the beginning of our journey, I waxed on about the revival of ePortfolios in a previous blog post where I introduced KPUs participation in the AAC&U ePortfolio Institute along with other key ePortfolio initiatives in progress under the banner of a new tagline, ePortfolio Matters @KPU. I concluded, hopeful, that others would join in the revival, proving the tagline true. Now, a year later, it seems ePortfolios really do matter at KPU.

The fruits of a strategic alliance between the Teaching and Learning Commons (TL Commons) and the Wilson School of Design (WSD) have been plentiful. Our Action Plan for the Institute had a parallel purpose, supporting the WSD in their efforts to implement ePortfolios across their seven programs while, in tandem, learning and promoting best practices for ePortfolios across KPU. We framed our goals around six guiding principles: (1) Start with the Why?, (2) Make it Easy, (3) Focus on Articulating Learning, (4) Foster Consistency, (5) Build Relationships, and (6) Share the Stories. These principles garnered success both in the WSD and beyond by aiding us to better articulate the value principle of ePortfolios and grow faculty buy-in, build and share resources and provide professional development opportunities to ease implementation and encourage a focus on folio thinking and standardization while sharing the story of our progress and the progress of other projects, thus establishing new Faculty partnerships with the TL Commons and initiating new ePortfolio champions. From a number perspective, active users of KPUs ePortfolio platform PebblePad has grown exponentially from 2300 to over 4000 this year, including approximately 60% of WSD faculty. Moreover, in the recent TL Commons survey, 35% of faculty respondents (N=268)  had attended an ePortfolio workshop and 50% who attended a workshop have an ePortfolio assignment in one or more of their courses.

Shifting toward new pedagogical frameworks and gaining competency with new learning technologies takes time, something we as faculty have little to spare. It became evident, very quickly in our Institute experience that support for dedicated time was necessary to achieve our goals. Having dedicated positions through faculty time releases provided the time needed to maximize the collaborative relationship between the subject matter experts in the WSD and the pedagogical and technological expertise of the TL Commons. This model has since been carried forward to new partnerships as the TL Commons has awarded six one-section time releases for the Spring semester to partner with and support five new ePortfolio initiatives across KPU.

While our time with AAC&U has ended, we are determined not to let the momentum of the revival wane. To sustain and advance the adoption of ePortfolios across the institution, the TL Commons launched its ePortfolio Advancement Plan in November at ePortfolio Matters @KPU Day. Also this Fall, I and my WSD colleague, Paola Gavilanez, began hosting the ePortfolio Matters Community of Practice, a safe space for all KPU faculty, who are curious or are working to implement ePortfolios in their practice, to share ideas, resources and work through problems with other faculty and PebblePad’s Implementation Specialists. Finally, the curation of the ePortfolio Matters @KPU WordPress site continues, so for more details about all that is mentioned here, all that could not fit, and all that is to come regarding the what, why, and how ePortfolios matter at KPU, please visit the site regularly.

If you have an ePortfolio initiative idea or something already in the works, contact the TL Commons and let us know about it and how we can support you. Vive la relance!